The In-Between
by TheOxTheFishTheWillow
Summary: Wars. They're supposed to be people versus people. Not these creatures from the dark. Why? Why do they want our hearts? Winfred, a 17yr old girl lives in the apocalyptic California. When her world is destroyed she wakes up in Destiny Islands. A Heaven to her hell. Upon meeting some strange people she must find herself. And where her heart lies.
1. Chapter 01: Welcome to World War III

I find it hard to believe that my life has changed so much. One minute I'm with my friends laughing and pretending we were better than those popular jerks, blushing whenever our crushes talked to us, just like any normal fourteen year old, and then... I sit here crying myself to sleep. The sound of war echoes through the bunker. It never stops. My ears hurt and my headache gets worse every day. My heart aches. I'm alone, no friends, no family, it's all gone. I live with these strangers who try to keep away from the war. They were kind enough to let me stay with them.  
At first it was just people killing people, almost like the North vs. the South. But then these strange creatures from the dark came from the corpses. Now people kill whatever they see, friends, animals, those things. It never stops. It never will.  
"Hey!" I slowly opened my eyes. "HEY!" I looked up to see Mr. Franklin. He was an old man who had seen better days, but he taught me how to shoot and how to defend myself in combat. He wasn't really nice to me though.

"Yes sir?" I sat up from my bed.

"Trouble!" He spat.

"Eh?" I rubbed my eyes yawning

"TROUBLE!" He grabbed my shirt collar and dragged me upstairs.

I tripped and tried to regain my balance. He threw me onto the couch. He looked outside and hissed clenching his fist. Mrs. Franklin made her way slowly down the stairs. She was very sick, a skin disease or something, and was usually upstairs asleep. "Dear what's wrong?" She said hoarsely, she started coughing. It was a horrible cough filled with phlegm.

Mr. Franklin ran over to her and looked at me. "Take the pistol and protect the house!" He yelled. I nodded and quickly grabbed the gun. The pistol meant it was humans who were trying to get in the house not those monsters. Those monsters are immune to bullets, knifes, bombs, everything. I ran to the backdoor and jumped over the fence. BANG. Oof that almost hit me. I need to be more careful.

"HEY LOVELY LADY! WHY DON'T YOU COME WITH ME!" The man laughed and shot some bullets in the air. I felt chills go up my spine. I knew that voice. He was the leader of the Hearts Gang, at first it was supposed to be gang that was going to protect their town Little Love, but then people became angry and feared for their lives making them suicidal the moment those evil creatures appeared.

I took a look at my surroundings. It was night time, perhaps the exact time was midnight. The smell of smoke and fire filled my nose. I couldn't see any place worth hiding. I didn't know how many people were out here.

I could see someone slowly creeping up to the house. I took a shot at his legs. "GAH!" Bulls eye. "TH-THAT B**** JUST SHOT ME!" I smiled and ran to the porch. I saw a figure at the corner of my eye. Without moving my head I pointed the gun at them and shot. I only aimed at the hands, arms, or legs. Shoot anywhere vital and those monsters appear.

"MY, MY HOT STUFF! HA! WHERE'D YOU LEARN TO SHOOT LIKE THAT?!" The leader laughed.

"COWARD!" I yelled taking another shot at another moving figure. I reloaded dodging some bullets.

He started to laugh and shot a machine gun into the air. I cringed. He really brought the big guns today. I don't understand. Why is he targeting this house? We don't have much. We barely have enough food for all three of us.  
I ducked behind a collapsed wall. I'm not sure what this used to be but right now it was my shield. I looked at how many bullets were left. Three. It irritates me to not know how many more targets I had. I looked up into the sky. My eyes fixated on a blinking star. Hm? It disappeared. Better not be a missile.  
I sighed as the bullets buzzed over my head. My ears started ringing. I clenched my jaw and squeezed my eyes shut.

GAH! Something scratched me. I looked into the darkness. Yellow eyes peered at me. I jumped up and fell over the broken wall. A bullet hit my leg. I never felt this pain before. It hurts. It hurts so bad. I looked back to where I saw those eyes. Bullets whizzed by me. I clenched the leg that was scratched. It hurt, but it also had this cool feeling that made my leg go numb. I didn't know which one to put pressure on. I could feel the warm liquid of blood trickle down my other leg. My head started to hurt.  
_No please no! Not another headache!_ I grabbed my gun and took a blind shot. "GAH!" I actually hit something? "B-BOSS! TH-THOSE CREATURES!"

"SH**! NO! NO! RETREAT MAN! RETREAT!"

It soon fell quiet. I inched my way across the rubble. My hands landed on glass and sharp rocks. It hurt. But I could see something in the distance, something coming closer to me. My butt landed on the street. I tried to stand up but it was no use, neither of my legs were responding. A figure grew in the darkness. It was so tall. There was heart shaped hole in the middle of its stomach. It was a giant shadow like creature. It was looking only at me. It raised its fist and hit the street making it crack and vibrate. My body flew into the air and landed roughly into broken blacktop. By reflex I rolled over clutching my arms in pain. I looked back up at the enemy. It stomped around in place simply looking for its next target. It turned towards the house. NO! I grabbed for my gun. _It's not here!?_ I searched around my nails scraping over the blacktop. There! It wasn't mine but that didn't matter. I took a shot. BANG! It didn't move. I took another, and then another and then click click! EMPTY! Damn! No please! C'mon!  
"PLEASE MR. FRANKLIN! GET OUT OF THAT HOUSE! PLEASE!" The monster rose its arm again and crushed the house. My pulse must have stopped. Debris flew out, some hitting me in the face. But I couldn't feel anything. It was as if I was looking at what happened outside of my body. The dust cleared away, and all that was left was just the sofa. Nothing else. Nothing.  
In a fit of rage I stood up, the pain searing through my legs making me tremble. I ran towards that monster and hit it with all my might. It raised its fist again and hit the floor. A black pool surrounded that fist. Those black creatures crawled out making their way towards me. I ran towards the fist and jumped onto it. I ran with all my might towards its face. It raised its hand from the ground and stared straight ahead, it didn't care that I was right there it didn't think I was strong enough to defeat it. I grabbed the empty gun and stabbed it into its eye. It fell to its knees.  
I had won! No. My body started to tingle. I saw what could have been electrical orbs flying out of its body. They hit me making me lose my balance. I fell onto the ground. _My body can't take this anymore_. I stood up weakly. The small creatures ran over to me hitting my body I tried to hit back but they sunk into the ground. My vision was hazy. I couldn't take one more hit. I fell to the ground trying desperately to crawl away. The monster fell to its knees and again the orbs flew out of its body. One hit me and my body went numb.

Ngh. I opened my eyes but I couldn't see anything, I could hear the sound of an ocean. It smells salty. I haven't smelled clean air in a long time, it burns my lungs. I closed my eyes. Heaven smelled nice.  
Ungh. My body hurts. Something is touching my hair. I gasped and shot up my vision suddenly clearing. I looked behind me to see a crab. I jumped up in disgust. I hate things that crawl. Wait. Where the heck am I? I looked around and saw I was on an Island. There was a shack that led to a small, what seemed to be, manmade Island. (It was strangely elevated from this Island) There was a weird tree growing on that Island, it had yellow star shaped. . .fruit maybe? My stomach growled. There was a beautiful waterfall with a small rainbow lightly giving the water color. There was also a small cave barely covered by shrubbery. There was also what seemed to be a tree house, a dock, and even a little panel covering something.

I closed my eyes trying to remember what happened to me. I gasped and looked at my legs. There was no bullet wound but on my leg where one of those small creatures scratched me had grown a nasty scar. My clothes were disheveled, good thing there was no one here, but by the looks of things there will be, maybe. I fixed my black leggings and poured sand out of my brown buckled boots. I wiped off dust from my dark purple skirt and white sweatshirt. Ugh there was sand in my hair, one of the bad things of having long black and grey hair was trying to untangle it. I walked over to the freshwater lake, and dipped my hair in. I tried to brush it with my fingers, well it looks ok now. I stopped what I was doing and laughed. It's been a long time since I tried to make myself look good.

I entered the small shack and made my way to the star tree. I climbed up the grey bark, which was really smooth, and climbed towards the star fruit. My fingers barely touched it. It was squishy feeling and let out a sweet aroma. My stomach growled again. I balanced myself on the bark, which curved awkwardly. I grabbed a branch and stood on my tip toes trying to grab the fruit. You would think heaven would make this easier.

"Hey!"

"Gah!" I fell off the tree and into some shallow water.

"Whoops!" I heard footsteps running towards me. "You ok there? Huh?" I looked up to see a young man with spiky brown hair and blue eyes peering into my face. He tilted his head. "Who. . .are you?"

"Are you dead too?" I said standing up.

"What! Dead?!"

"This isn't heaven?"

He laughed almost nervously and shook his head. "No. No this is Destiny Islands."

"Destiny. . .Islands?" There is no such place on any of the maps I've seen. "So you're saying I'm alive?"He looked at me confused and pinched my arm. "Ow."

"You're alive." He chuckled.

"And it proves I'm not sleeping." I muttered. I looked at him and glared. "Then tell me, what part of the world is this. I mean it's so safe here. OR!" I gasped. "Or are you part of a gang." I pinned him against the wall raising my fist.

He looked at me slightly intimidated and confused. "I-gang? World?" He gasped."You're from another world!"

"What?"  
"Yea!" He smiled. What a sweet smile. I haven't seen smiling in a long while.

My grip on him loosened. I took a minute to think about this and then glared sharply. I learned how to be intimidating from Mr. Franklin, along with the gangs I would run into. "What are you smoking?! What gang is this? Why are you hiding this paradise from us!?" My body began to shake. "Why aren't those black creatures from the dark here?!"

"Creatures from the… HEARTLESS!?"

"Heart—what?" I raised my eyebrow. He wriggled his way out and grabbed my shoulders, in response I grabbed his arms and flipped him over my shoulder throwing him into the water. I backed away from him.

"Hey Sora!" Another one. This voice is female. "Hey. . ." I could see in my peripheral vision a girl with dark red hair wearing a pink outfit running towards us. She looked worried. I could see another man walking behind here with short white hair following her. White hair, maybe from stress or fear just like me? But his whole hair is white. What could have happened? I can't fight two males at the same time, I've always been bad at hand to hand combat. I felt scared. My body slightly trembled. Maybe this really was heaven. I was truly dead. I want to see my family. Please!

"Kairi! Riku!" The young man named Sora said standing up.

"Sora what happened?" The white haired boy said. I assume he's Riku.

"Who's this?" Kairi said walking towards me. I backed away by instinct.

"I'm not so sure yet. She's from another world."

"What's your world called?" Kairi said frowning.

"Stop it!" I hissed. "No more talks of these crazy worlds! Why are you trying to trick me? I'm in heaven right?"

"Heaven? No." Riku said crossing his arms.

Kairi looked at me worried. "This is-"

"Destiny Island I know." I wish I had my gun, then I could make them talk, but it looks like that's not how things are done here. "Is that what heaven is truly called, Destiny Island, it sounds pleasant." I muttered the last part.

Sora frowned and looked sincerely sympathetic. "You're not dead. I swear it."

I clenched my jaw "Then how did I get here?"

"Maybe it's destiny." Sora smiled.

I stared at him in silence for a while "Was that a pun?"

"No."

"This means." I said my mind wondering. "This means that YOU have traveled to other worlds. If you know I'm from another world then that means you've been to other ones. I mean you sound like you're speaking from experience. So that means-" Great I'm rambling again. Mr. Franklin always said I had a touch of the crazies. He told me that I never shut up and if I were to be held captive I would spill the beans on where the 'secret stuff' was because 'You never shut that damn mouth of yours! I should've left you for the gangs!' that's what he always said, leaving me for the gangs. "I'm right aren't I!"

Sora stuttered trying to find the right words. "Yea, that's right."

"But my world is overrun with the dark creatures and gangs." I looked into the water.

"You mean heartless!" Riku said standing next to us. Kairi put her hands to her heart almost in shock.

Heartless that's what Sora said. "Heartless? You know what." I said before any of them could interrupt me. "These 'Heartless' did arise from the dead."

"THE DEAD!" Sora yelled his eyes wide in shock.

"Yes. They just suddenly appeared." I said. I will never forget that day.

It was a rare peaceful day. The sun had actually ripped through the clouds of smoke. The smell of decay and dust filled the atmosphere. It was like the dead overpopulated the living. I sat alone in the basement of the Franklin's house. They were upstairs drinking coffee and listening to the radio. A secret new station that usually played at around 5pm on Thursday's usually talked about the number of recruits in different resistance groups, a fancy way of saying gang members. I was reading a book I've read almost a thousand times The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I read it once in school for a project and didn't like it. I still don't but it at least puts me to sleep. I lazily flipped through the pages. It was hot in the basement, the blanket I was laying on made my skin feel prickly from sweat. I stood up and stretched. I decided to practice my self-defense skills. I started to hit the practice dummy in the pressure points pretending I was in a real battle.

"And now more with Louis." The female voice from the static of radio croaked.

"Thank you Karol. Today it has been reported that there is a new resistance group up in the far east."

"Far east?" Miles, Louis's sidekick, gasped. "Isn't that dead man's land?"

"Precisely. Witnesses say that these gangs-I mean resistance groups-," I rolled my eyes. Just say it, why are people so afraid to say that these gangs are trying to shoot us off the streets? I mean we already hear about the horrible details of the war, "these groups are about the size of children, all dressed in black."

"What?! Children?!" Miles yelped.

"Yea they say they have these weird yellow eyes and that's all…well that's all the witnesses have seen. "

"Really that's all?"

"Yea they say they're like shadows. One minute they're there and the next foosh they've disappeared into the ground."

"Oh man. Bringing kids like that as pawns of war." He sighed and shuffled some papers.

"It's never been safe for them. This is World War III Miles, as well as a Civil War for this country." Miles didn't answer. "Besides we-" There was a loud bang. "Karol! Oh God!" Bang! "P-please no I'll do anything! Please I have a wi-! GAH!" The station went silent. I hadn't realized I was leaning against the wall with my hand to my mouth.

"Listen carefully you little brats!" It sounded like the Leader of the Hearts gang. "If you think you can sneak into our camp and steal our stuff then-"

"BOSS!"

"What the hell is it! Can't you see I'm—Holly sh**!" Wh-what the hell is that!?" The sound of tables being thrown over on their sides made the radio crackle with static. "Holly! Is that those kids they was talking about?!"

"Boss those ain't kids!" BANG.

"You missed you idiot!" BANG "The hell? It went through them!" BANG BANG.  
"Boss! Th-these things are immortal!"  
"Those are definitely not children man! They ghosts! Ghouls! We never should have killed these" BANG "GAH!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" The leader yelled. "Let's go!"

"That was three years ago." I didn't realize that had I said all of that out loud. They looked at me in shock. I cursed at myself for being a blabber mouth.

"Th-that really happened?!" Kairi said, she looked like she had just seen a ghost. It stayed silent for a long time.  
"I think." Sora broke the silence. "I think we should have her meet the king." He looked at Riku.  
"I agree. With a story like that I guess it's best."  
"King?"  
"Yeah!" Sora grabbed my wrist pulling me to the shack that led to the star tree.

Kairi was about to follow us but Riku stopped her. "No you need to practice your fighting."

"Oh yeah. Good luck uh... What's your name?!"

When I was younger I hated my name but my mother used to tell me it had great meaning to her, she never got a chance to tell me, but now I love it, I smiled filled with pride "Winfred."

"We'll see you later Winfred." She waved goodbye. Hesitantly I waved back. 


	2. Chapter 02: Which is it Squall or Leon?

**Hello! You're back. I'm happy. Or you just skipped chap 1. That's fine to. Anyways enjoy. Feedback is my friend. :D**

CHAPTER 02: Which is it Squall or Leon?!

"Here it is." Sora said pointing to a glowing green circle that was inside a seaside shack.

"This?"

"Yea!" He grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the circle. It shimmered and glowed around me. I felt like all wounds, I glanced at my scared leg, had been healed.

The next thing I knew I was sitting in some sort of space ship. I looked out the window. "Oh my…Wow!" I watched a comet fly by.

"Yeah, pretty cool huh!" Sora piloted the ship. I looked around like a kid in a candy store. "Hey calm down." He laughed.

"Daddy always wanted to go to space! I can't believe I'm here…in space! Oh look! Look Sora!" He laughed again as I pointed to a small asteroid. "Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship-"

"Gumi ship." Sora interrupted.

"Of the star ship gumi ship. Wait what?"

"It's called a gumi ship." I could see his smile from the reflection of the window.

"Oh." There was an awkward silence for a short while. "Sora where are we going exactly?"

"To see King Mickey." Sora turned to look at me. "He'll tell you what to do." I frowned at this. Am I a burden to them? To him? I felt a small pain in my chest and looked down at my feet. I felt uncomfortable. Where was I? Why was I brought here? I sighed loudly. There was a light beeping coming from the control center. "Distress call?" He said in complete concern. Sora looked at me straight in the eye.

"Keep your eyes on the road."I murmured and looked away.

"We have to help them." Sora stood up and walked over to a small cabinet.

"See that we almost hit that asteroid."

"It's coming from Hallow Bastion." He picked up a silver bracelet and gave it to me.

"Hallow what?" I said putting it on feeling a little different, like being protected from the elements, but that's crazy talk.

"Wonder what's needed?" He sat back down and avoided yet another asteroid.

"It says Radiant Garden not Hallow Bastion." I glanced at the control panel next to me.

"Hope everyone's ok."

"Watch the space road." I grabbed the seat wondering if we might crash.

"We have to take a detour."

"Someone call the police, crazy driver trying to kill me."

He looked back at me. "Is that ok with you?" Before I could answer he nodded.

"Stop ignoring me."

We reached Radiant Garden and landed on top of a roof of some store. It was pretty here almost a cross between the medieval and modern era. I looked around in awe. He wasn't kidding about different worlds. Sora walked down some stairs and seemed to spot someone he knew. He started talking with a guy with long brown hair and a scar across his face. I slowly walked down the stairs taking in the new scenery. Sora motioned for me to follow them. I nodded and followed closely.

"Who's this?" This guy's voice sounded almost bored.

"This is Winfred. Her world was taken by heartless." Sora's voiced hardened when he said heartless.

"Guess it's ok to show her this then."

"Show me what?" I said speeding up my pace to walk next to Sora. "What is this place exactly?"

"It's a town." The guy said.

"What's your name?" He didn't reply. _Yeesh sorry._ I thought

"His names Leon." Sora smiled as he looked at me.

I muttered a low 'oh.' I guess Leon wasn't a talker. I looked around some more. The buildings here reminded me of the houses Virginia used to have. I wondered if I went inside if it would have all the modern technology like in America. Or was this world underdeveloped? "So how do you know Leon, Sora?"

"Leon was a big help to me when my world was destroyed." Sora said looking into the sky thinking back on those days.

"Your world was-!"

"HEY SQUALL!"

"Yuffie!" Sora said looking at the sky. I looked around and finally saw a girl waving from a roof top. She had short black hair and wore those urban looking hippie headbands. She had on a black tank and short kakis. I think she also had knee high socks and boots on. The rest of the details were hard to see from here.

"SORA! WHAT'S UP!?" The girl jumped from roof to roof almost like a ninja. She jumped into the air doing a quick back flip and landing right in front of me. "Who's this?"

"Winfred." I said backing away slightly. She had childish smile. "Who are you?"

"_I'm_ the great ninja Yuffie!"

"Ninja?"

"The one and only." She said stretching her arms out. "Ya'll going to the computer room?" She looked at Squall. Or was it Leon? Maybe that's his last name.

"Computer! You have computers here!" I felt my heart starting to race in excitement. I haven't been on a computer in years!

"Yea you know how to work them?" Sora tilted his head.

"DUH!" I almost screamed.

"Good." Squall Leon mumbled.

When they said computer room I was expecting some Mic or Doors, not this giant room. I stood in front of a giant almost futuristic 90's computer room. I saw a keyboard facing a window to a weird room. What the heck are the making here aliens?! Why is there a laser behind this computer! Squall, which I later learned he preferred Leon, turned on the computer. I walked over to it and looked at Leon. "So…what do you need?"

"We're looking for files." Leon said.

_Ok and?!_ I thought. "Ok." I looked at the screen and started typing.

"Woah!" Sora said looking at my fingers as I typed. "You're fast!"

"There are a bunch of files in here. You need to be more specific." I said skimming through everything.

Leon stayed quiet for a while before Yuffie nudging him to keep talking. "A file on a man named Xehanort."

"Zey-ha-nort?" I looked at the keys. _How do you spell that?_

Leon sighed, "X-E-H-A-N-O-R-T." I made a mental note on how to spell that.

"We've been looking for a certain file for ages." Yuffie said sitting on the counter near the computer.

"Leon! Are you here?" A female voice called out from the room we had entered.  
Leon, Yuffie, and Sora both left the room. I wanted to follow but I got the impression I should stay here. I looked at the computer and sighed. Walking over here was a pain. Having to walk up those stairs, then head down to this weird mansion thing, and walk through a maze of a hallway. It was weird, how they trusted me. Maybe it was because I was with Sora, he seems so trusted here. Maybe Sora pities me because he's had the same experience as me. But the thought of losing my world…still hasn't hit. I don't get it. Everything has happened so fast. I was on Earth, I guess, then met Sora and his friends, and now I'm here. It's like a dream. I wouldn't be surprised if I wake up and I'm back in that hell. Maybe I can just keep sleeping, keep dreaming, and then just die. That would be nice.

I continued to type and finally, after about an hour, found a file that led to another file that led to an encrypted file. "Here we go. This looks interesting." I muttered. When I looked back to call for Sora but he still hadn't come bak. I took my hands off the keyboard and looked around. I walked over to a weird futuristic looking door but it was locked. I tried to pry it open curiosity overcoming me.

"USER!" A deep voiced boomed.

"Holy!" I jumped back and fell on my butt.

"STEP AWAY FROM THE DOOR!"

"What the…" Is someone speaking on an intercom? I stood up and walked back to the door.

"STEP AWAY FROM THE DOOR!"

"Why?"

"THIS DOOR IS OFF LIMITS TO USERS!"

"Users? Who _is_ allowed in here?" I tapped on the door.

"ONLY THE MCP CAN AUTORIZE CLEARENCE!"

"MCP? The heck is that?" I went back to the keyboard trying to find a file on the MCP. Wow there is literally no internet, I hate this.

"STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER!"

"Uh no. You're just a voice what are you going to…" I turned around slowly to see that laser thing lighting up. A beam hit my face and then next thing I knew…


	3. Chapter 03:Clear the History

**CHAPTER 3: I just know how to surf the web and clear my history**

I woke up in a room that looked like a dungeon. A neon dubstep dungeon. I stood up and blinked. _Ow_ _these lights are blinding._ I put my hands up to shield my eyes. "GAH! M-my body is grey?!" I looked at my clothing which had turned white and blue. _Am I… A ROBOT!_ I screamed in my head. I actually looked really stylish. I looked around and frowned. "Well now how do I get out?" I saw this weird looking 80's like computer in here. I started typing, "GYOUCH! IT SHOCKED ME!" I yelped looking at my hands. _Hmm. Hmm?_ "I'm not a programmer! How does this work!? Hello?!" My stomach growled. "Aw crap! I haven't eaten since three days ago! I NEED FOOD!"  
Two hours passed. I had spent my whole time staring out the barred window. I saw some weird machines flying and walking around this computer like world. I sighed and sat on the floor. _How do I get out?_ I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

***  
I was outside my old school. The cold air touched my face making my sniffle. The smell of pine trees made me cough. I saw all my old classmates walking around and talking to each other. I tried to call out to someone but my voice didn't work. But this felt like déjà vu. It was like I was watching a recording and I didn't have free will.  
"Winfred!" I turned around to see my best friend.

"Hey Clara!" We gave each other a hug. Clara was really pale with rosey red cheeks and light brown freckles. Her hair was dyed a bright turquoise with and a medium turquoise highlights. She was short and a little chunky and people constantly called her 'Crazy Clara', 'Fat Claire', 'Druggy potato.' Not the most cleverest of names but they still hurt her. She never let that get her down and was super sweet and funny.

"Winnie I luh-uv your new curls."

"Thanks! It took me forever to make them perfect!" I bounced my curls and giggled.

"Well girl it was worth it! I think Margie is waiting for us in the café."

"You mean the cafeteria?" I chuckled as I grabbed my backpack slinging it over one shoulder.

"Café is classy and it doesn't leave a nasty taste in my mouth."

"Like yesterday's Sloppy Joes?" I gagged.

"Ugh don't remind me!" She pointed her finger at her mouth gagging. "It almost made me want to become a vegetarian." We looked at each other and giggled and headed into the cafeteria.

"Margie!" I squealed waving my perfectly manicured hand in the air.

"Clara! Winnie!" Margie waved at us to come over and sit. Her skin was nicely tanned and made her look like a model. Her long black hair was tied back into a high ponytail. She had on expensive gold bracelets that she wasn't afraid to show off. Her long lashes fluttered whenever a hot guy walked by. "Clara! Those earrings ah! They're sooo kuh-yooote!" Clara moved her head from side to side showing off her turquoise beads. Her dyed blue hair clashed with the color but it was still pretty none-the-less.

"Has Tasha arrived?" Clara sat down and pulled out her cell texting to what I can guess was her boyfriend.

"No girl, not yet." Margie took a sip of her Stardoe coffee. She placed the coffee down and started to look around like a prairie dog. "Winnie." She whispered.

"Hmm what?"

She looked at me dead in the eyes. "Just imagine the darkness pooling around you and slip under the bars."

"What are you talking about?" I pulled out my textbook. The cover was completely black and the spine read 'No Heart'. "Huh? Where's my history?"

"Just let the darkness from your heart overtake you." Clara looked at me slowly. "We all have darkness in us. Especially you." Her head cracked to the side almost as if it was going to fall off.

"GYAHH!" I jumped up, hitting the table with my legs making me stumble back and fall onto the floor.

Margie fell to the floor almost looking burned. "Winnie. . .help!" She tried to reach out to me. I heard grenades going off and dust covering my body. I stood up and tried to run to her but a man with a gun stood in front of me. He had an eye patch on his left eye with a scar running under it. He had black and white hair making it look a little grey. He smirked. Before I could say anything, he disappeared and the man turned into the leader of the Heart's gang. He shot me multiple times in the head. I fell and felt the warm blood drip down the crook of my noise and into my open mouth. The iron filled my taste buds and soon mixed with my saliva.  
Clara's head rolled up to me. With a weak grunt I touched her dirty, matted hair.

***  
"NO!" I gasped and felt sweaty. I closed my eyes and tried to ease my breathing. I ran my fingers through my hair. "What the heck was that?" I swallowed and couldn't taste anything but saliva. "No. No. I don't want to remember." I tried to recall the dream avoiding the grotesque details, "The darkness pooling around me…?" I closed my eyes and pictured that cold feeling of the darkness the same feeling I felt when that giant monster attacked my world. I opened my eyes and saw I was surrounded in darkness. It caressed itself against my skin climbing to my heart. I pictured myself getting out of the dungeon. I felt like I was crawling under the cell like a shadow. _I want to see again._ I stood up and gasped. I was out of the dungeon. My body felt a little heavy but whatever I just did worked!

I stretched and smiled. There was a teleportation device that led to the outside world. I stood on it and pressed forward to a destination that read Canyon. My body was engulfed in binary code. Bzzt Bztt. _The heck is this place? _I was in an open room with no means of getting out. It looked like I as in an arena.  
_  
_"WELCOME TO THE GAME GRID!" It's that voice again! The jerk that threw me in here!

"Game…Grid?" A maze like area appeared before me like a transparent diagram and soon become solid. A low thump came from the left. "Huh?" A motorcycle, or at least a tripped out one, had appeared.

"THE OBJECTIVE OF THE GAME IS TO ESCAPE THE MAZE."

"But it's not so black and white huh!" I placed my hand on the motorcycle. It was cold and smooth. It felt really light to.

"USE THE LIGHT CYCLE TO ATTACK ENEMIES. TRY NOT TO CRASH."

"Just the light cycle?" I never did get my license and I was a horrible writer.

"USE YOUR MEORY BANKS TO SUMMON A WEAPON."

"Memory. Heh" I closed my mind and pictured two pistols. They appeared in front of me; two regular pistols that had a neon blue and red design in the shape of some weird deformed heart. The heart had three arrows on the top and the bottom curved weird. I grabbed them and pictured some holsters. I felt my waist tighten and saw it had appeared nicely on my body. I smiled and put the guns away.

"SIT ON THE LIGHT CYLCE TO BEGIN." I sat on the light cycle and revved up the engine.

"Oh heck yes." I smiled. I heard a time clock and then BAM I could hear other engines. "Heartless. I wonder if I can actually hit them. We were never able to do any actual damage on my world." I decided to wing it. I took out my pistol and focused on the road. I could almost feel the bullet leaving the chamber. There's no need to look at my target I know I hit it.  
EEEP! Left or right! "UH UH RIGHT!" I turned sharply and almost hit the wall. I took more shots to the Heartless and surprisingly it damaged them. I even tried to use the light cycle to attack and, even though I crashed because of that, I could feel myself getting a rush from this. But the maze wouldn't end though. "No fair this maze is endless! This isn't fun anymore!" I wiped my brow.

"IT WAS NOT MADE TO BE 'FUN'."

"Oh I get it I'm supposed to give up and die. Whatever! I'll get out of here- woah!" _A broken wall?! Heck yeah! _"Dang…That is a big heartless. It looks like a walking cannon." It shot a plazma blast that wizzed past my ear. Three more appeared. "No way. " I took a few shots to stagger them and kicked up the engine. I felt my body lift from the motorcycle and was blinded by a bright light.

When I opened my eyes…"What the heck! I'm back in jail!?" I kicked the wall and huffed out hot air.

"This is not jail."

"Geezus!" I jumped and saw a man sitting near the computer. "Who are you?"

"My name is Tron. I am a security Program." A guy with the same clothing design as me was sitting against the wall. He wore a hat and had hair like a someone drawn from the 60's. In other words a perfect cut. He was spinning a disk in his hands.

"So this is your…world, what is this place." I sat down in front of him.

"You're inside a mainframe computer system for processing data." He put the disk into his back.

"Hmm so almost like the virus protector thingy. Like a firewall!" I said raising my index finger as if I came up with an idea.

"I wouldn't think so. This is a copy of one created by a corporation called ENCOM."

"ENCOM?"

"The current user acquired this copy and updated and customized the programs. He renamed it Hallow Bastion OS, although I did find a file that read Radiant Garden data bank 2."

"Oh. That's the place at was in before I came here." So in other words I am inside a computer? "Oh my name is Winfred."

"You're a user! Then you know my friends Sora, Donald, and Goofy."

"I know Sora. Not the others." _I wonder what sorry guy had a name like Goofy? Maybe it was a nickname?_ "I was thrown in here unwillingly."

"You and me both. How did you get yourself in here?"

"I didn't want to be in jail." I looked around. "I got out of here at first but then I was thrown into a place called the Gaming Grid. Once I beat the game I was thrown back here."

"You're lucky to have survived, those 'games' are rigged to intentionally make you lose."

"I guess someone was able to find an exit, there was a big hole in the wall." I made a circle with my arms to express how big it was.

"A Hostile Program did that." _He must mean the heartless_. "Sora was able to beat the game as well. We all found a way to end the MCP but recently someone hacked into the mainframe and planted a virus, which was fuel for the MCP. I tried to stop it and send a distress call to the users but all my attempts were blocked."

"When did this happen?" I crossed my arms.

"In your time, about three days ago."

"So that means it's gotten way out of control and that's why they asked for help. They must have thought they could try to stop the virus in the real world. Can we stop it here?"

"Not without their help." My shoulders slouched in disappointment. "But we can send another distress call."

"Alright. If we yell loud enough maybe they'll hear us. Don't worry I won't leave until we get this problem solved." I smiled. Better to do this than sitting here.

"That's nice of you but you couldn't leave if you wanted to. The gates to the Pit Cell are locked. Plus the MCP has total control of the teleportation device to the User world."

"So in other words, no one can get in, and, more importantly, no one can get out." I frowned.

"Yes." He said looking at the computer.

I sighed once again in disappointment. "Doesn't matter." I stood up. "If we can stop the virus then the town will be, uh, free I guess. I really don't know what's going on up in the real world. I didn't see anything strange."

"Before I got thrown in here someone was trying to access an encrypted file."

"That was me. I found it." I laughed nervously.

"It's impressive, that file was supposed to be hidden quite well."

"Well seeing as no one in the user world, I mean real world, knows how to use a computer…as far as I've seen anyways. Anyways! What should we do to get out of here?"

"We first need to charge the gate to get a power surge."

"Leave it to me. I guess." I looked around. "Was that treasure chest always there?" I bent down and tapped it with my gun. I don't know how I knew to do that but it worked. The chest opened and inside was this orb. "What the Heartless is this?" I took it and felt a tingle in my arms. I closed my eyes and breathed in. Facing the jail doors I aimed my gun and with an electric shock it hit the door! "Woah lightning!?" I hit two more times. The cell doors started to glow a bright blue from the electricity and then it dissipated like steam.

"It worked!" Tron started typing on the computer. "With this we can transport back here. And, if we get the user teleportation system working you can use it to get back here."

"Hooray! Now what?"

"Now we head to the I/O tower." He typed in three mother things and started to leave.

"Where's that?"

"We go past the canyon and take a left." He pointed outside to a tall tower that blinked a red light.

"Got it."

"Watch out for Hostile Programs."

"Understood. I got these." I smiled and cocked my gun.

~Later~  
We ran out of the jail cell and took a lift to the Canyon. We ran into some Heartless but it was an easy fight. We walked up the ramp and into a red door. The room was an ugly yellow green. "This is the Dataspace." Tron said putting away his fighting disk. "The last time we tried to access the computer in here, but the MCP tried to download some Hostile Programs, luckily we stopped them."

"Well if that happens again we can stop them." I reloaded my guns and sat on the floor. "So what do we do now?"

"Now we send our distress call."

"Sweet! Is there any way we can let them see us?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like a Facetime. Maybe that can help assess the problem."

"We can try but let's first send the distress call. Give it a try." He typed in a few things and moved out of the way.

I breathed in praying it would work. "Sora?"


	4. Chapter 04: Voice From Beyond

**Chapter 4: Voice from the beyond**

"Sora?" There was a silence for the longest while. I sighed and tapped my nails on the side of the computer. "Sora!?"

"Winfred is that you?!" Sora's voice echoed throughout the Dataspace.

I looked at Tron and jumped for joy. "Yea! Sora! Listen the MCP has taken over the data system. Me and Tron here are going to try to stop the MCP from this end, we need you to download some sort of virus protector, a firewall, and whatever else."

"We'll try!" Sora said confidently.

"What exactly is happening there?" I heard a low clinging noise and the sound of tires, the Heartless!  
"The defense system is acting up. Plus the heartless…the city i***** tow****"

"Sora!" Leon! "Baily *** un**r****ack!"  
The computer started to heat up and with a loud zapping noise I felt a harsh shock on my fingertips.

"GAH! Ouch that's the second time I've gotten zapped." I waved my hand in the air and looked at my fingers.

"I'll try to restore the link." Tron got back on the computer.

"No, we got the gist of it and we got our point across. I'm surprised I thought something would've gone wrong." There was a loud explosion coming from the back. "I spoke too soon."

"It's the I/O tower!" Tron started to run to the exit.

"What about it?" I ran after him trying to catch up.

Tron stood outside the I/O tower. "It's crashing!"

"What!?" Like it's going to crash like a computer?"

There were sparks and buzzing noises popping off the hallways. We ran inside the tower and saw the Hostile Programs attacking the core. "Tron!" I yelled as he ran towards the core while attacking the programs. "Aw crap!" I started shooting the heartless at a distance to give him leverage when suddenly, an invisible wall erected around me. "What the? Ow!" I got hit from behind by an electrical charge hitting the wall with full force. When I turned I saw a white strange looking heartless hanging from the ceiling. It had the same symbol as my pistols did. I aimed at it hesitantly and took the shot. It fell to the ground and more appeared. They looked like they were wearing some type of white jumpsuits. They moved in a weird, acrobatic matter and twitched crazily.

I took a few shots but these things were pretty agile. "Come on!" I hissed ready to throw the guns at them. Before I knew it the pistols attached to each other creating a tripped out shotgun. I slid behind them, which I called Reversal, giving a surprise attack using the pistols, which had unattached whenever I got closer to them, as a melee weapon, I guess almost like iron fists.  
I shot the last one and watched it disappear dropping some diamond like objects and bubbles. "There." I stretched and looked around. "So can I leave now?" I looked back but Tron wasn't there."Tron?!"

"Looking for this…"A man wearing neon red armor was holding Tron's body. He threw him to the floor.

"Tron! Who are you?" I aimed a pistol at the intruder's head.

"My name is Stark Mark 4." He looked at my gun. "That user device won't hurt me! Turn around and look at your true target!"

I thought about refusing, thinking he was trying to trick me. Keeping one gun pointed at him I aimed the other one and turned my head slowly. "WOAH!" I jumped back dodging a plazma blast. I looked up to see a Heartless hanging on the ceiling. It fell crashing into the floor sparks coloring the cloud of smoke. I lowered my guns. Nothing happened for about two minutes. I walked over to the mechanical looking heartless slowly. The machine flew up into the air landing a hit on my arm. "Ow. Ow!" I grasped my arm that got hit, it started to tingle until, it went completely numb. My hand dropped the pistol. I guess we're going to have to fight with just one.  
It had been about three minutes. The battle wasn't going well. My ears were ringing and my head was spinning. I could barely stand, my legs had gone numb after the damn thing had gotten the upper hand and shot me. I crawled pathetically to a piece of debris. _I wish I had a grenade._ _Urgh the headache is getting worse_. I clenched my head. The heartless took a few shots but missed me by a hair. My ears started ringing so loud I felt the world start to turn. My eyes closed and a wave of nausea passed over me.

***  
"Darkness. It's in every one's hearts. No matter how pure the person seems the darkness lives on." This voice sounds like an old mans. "The Darkness consumes the heart when the person starts to crave power! Darkness is power! I've learned to control it. I've learned the secrets of darkness. It took years upon years of research but I finally found the answer."

"And," this voice was very deep, "what is this answer?"

"I'll tell you Xemnas." There was a low jingling noise, almost like a chain. "But first tell me, can you feel the darkness calling you?"

"This one," another deep voice, "I feel that she has learned to control it as well. The darkness in her is very powerful."

"Correct Ansem but only to an extent, with the right situation she could lose the control in a matter of minutes. But this one has learned the other research I have been conducting. This one balances between nothingness and the darkness. She's both."

"How so old man?" A raspy voice.

"You mean to say-," he sounds normal.

"Isa don't pretend you know the answer!" The raspy voice snapped.

"You mean to say_, _that she is both her nobody and her heartless." Xemnas spoke.

"What?! The heck does that mean?" The raspy one huffed out a breath of air.

"It's self explanatory Braig." Isa hissed.

"Well then dumb it down for me!" Braig growled.

"This girl," the old man's voice continued, "she holds an empty shell. Her body lives in darkness, trapped in eternal oblivion. Light does not reach her, she's deliberately pushing it away. Her will to live on and help her world was so strong it invited both light and darkness. She chose darkness."

"But how is it possible for her to also be a nobody and a heartless?" Braig said irritably.

"That. I do not know."

I awoke in the I/O tower. Tron was passed out next to me. Hazily I stood up. My ears stopped ringing and I heard a female voice. "ALERT! ALERT!" It repeated. I breathed in sharply and started coughing. Smoke? I shook Tron trying to wake him up, but to no avail. My body had gained some of its feeling back but I still felt weak. I crawled over to grab my pistols but the weight of the metal was too heavy for me. I reached out my hands my fingertips just barely touching it. A bright light flashed and the pistols were instantly in my hands and then disappeared. I stood up shakily almost falling back onto my butt. I stood still for a long time gaining back my composure. The smoke was becoming unbearable. I could feel the smoke filling my lungs, the pain of it burning my throat and my chest. I had to get us out of here.  
"ALERT! ALERT!" I grabbed Tron by the wrists feeling my body ache in protest. Using the last of my strength to pull him up the steps one by one I fell to the floor. The whole building started to rumble and I could tell it was literally going to crash. I grabbed Tron by the wrist again but dragging him was going to take too long. Even though my body screamed at me to just give up I couldn't leave him behind. Sora was counting on me!  
I pulled Tron over my shoulder and lifted him up with my knees. My muscles tightened and I almost fell from the pain. Gathering all my determination I ran out of the building and collapsed onto the floor. Coughing I felt my body take in all the clean 'oxygen'. I felt my head clear and I looked at Tron. He was badly hurt and obviously unconscious. I tried to slap his face but it looked like his circuits were all fired. Afraid, I tried to fix him using the thunder spell I learned but it didn't work. I tried everything but I couldn't do anything. He wouldn't wake up. I felt myself hyperventilating. _This guy helped me, and I promised everyone that I would keep them safe! No don't think about them now!_ My heart felt heavy and I could feel tears forming in my eyes. I blinked trying to hold them back. This reminded me of when I had to help a hurt child during the beginning of the war. I was too stupid at the time to know how to treat a wound.

Tron flinched and I jumped towards him. "Tron?!" He groaned trying to regain consciousness. "TRON!" I felt my body tingle and the next thing I knew I was on the floor back in the computer lab.

"Winfred!" Sora smiled at me.

"No." I whispered.

"What?"

"NO! NO NO!" I stood up and started frantically typing on the computer. "TRON! TRON!" I yelled feeling my voice crack. A pair of hands grabbed my arms trying to pull me away. I shook them off jamming my hands onto the keys desperately trying to get back to his world. Someone grabbed my waist pinning my arms to my side and lifting me off the ground. I kicked my legs trying to break free.  
"ENOUGH!" Squall yelled, he was holding me.

"BUT TRON! HE WAS AWAKE! HE WAS AKWAKE! GAH!" I felt a quick chop to the back of my neck and I fell numb. I wasn't able to speak, move, I could barely see, but at least I could hear.

"Boy that girl is a piece of work." Yuffie spoke.

"Cid. How is the virus protector coming along?" Leon sighed and I was held bridal style.

"It's coming! Hold your chocobos!" Cid yelled running into the room.

"Yuffie I think you may have overdone it." I heard another man's voice.

"Maybe but if we went with your idea, Cloud, she would've never woken up."

"Sorry." I heard the sound of a sword being put away.

"She said Tron was awake?" Sora spoke.

"We had tried to contact Tron the moment the problem had arisen but we never got an answer. I assumed the MCP had blocked all my efforts." Leon's voiced mumbled. "Though I don't know what she meant by that."

"Couldn't you just have said you don't know… or nothing at all." Yuffie mumbled.

"I just thought that information was important!"

"I hope Tron is ok." A soft spoken girl spoke.

"Me to." Sora said worriedly.

"Ok here it is!" Cid spoke. I could hear the sound of something loading.

"USERS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

"Looks like it's working." Cloud said then he walked off.

"YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT THE MCP!"

"Heartless!" Yuffie yelled. I was being placed onto the ground.

"Sora protect the Baily!" Leon yelled.

"Got it!"

"Cid, Aerith, make sure the computer doesn't get damaged!" Leon left at those words.

"You ready to protect the computer Aerith?"

"Yes. We have to do our part." _Please don't let the heartless enter this room_. I thought. Some time had passed. Aerith commented how it was strangely quiet. They talked amongst themselves.

"ALERT ALERT!"

"WHAT?!" Cid yelled typing frantically.

"Ugh." I regained consciousness.

"What's happening?" Aerith helped Cid type into the computer.

"The virus protector is corrupting the data! Tron's world is being re-written!"

"What will happen to Tron!" Aerith and I said simultaneously.

"His program is being reset!"

"That means… all that data has been erased?" I scurried over to the computer. "Is there any way to stop this?"

"No." Cid sighed.

"DOWNLOADING COMPLETE."

"It's too late." Cid rubbed his face exhausted.

"We stopped the heartless!" Yuffie cheered. "Woah why so gloomy?"

"Tron. His data, it's been corrupted." Cid sighed and chewed on the twig in his mouth.

"What?!" Sora walked in huffing, he looked beat.

"The good news is," Yuffie spoke with a forced smile, Leon and Cloud walked in, "the heartless are all gone. Well the heartless from Tron's world that is." Yuffie tried to cheer up the atmosphere.

"There were a lot out there. The MCP really tried to stop us." Leon said looking at the computer, which just said 'download complete.'

"Why didn't any of the heartless come in here though, that would've slowed things down." Yuffie tapped the table near the computer with her hands.

"That's right." Aerith raised her hand pointing at the room that connected to here. "No heartless were in there either."

"Whatever the case may be," I looked at the device that teleported you to Tron's world, "I have to go back. I need to know what happened to him."

"No can do misses." Cid was typing on the computer. "We don't know what has changed, we don't know if the world is stable, and you couldn't either way. It's locked."

"Is there any way to unlock it?" Sora said looking at the teleportation device.

"Maybe but not now." Cid spoke without looking up from the computer.

"First we need to check the town, make sure everything is ok." Leon said mainly towards Yuffie and Cloud. "We'll contact you when it's fixed. Sora, Winfred, we thank you for your help."

"You sure you guys will be ok?" I said while nodding as if to say 'no problem.'

"Hey! We're totally capable!" Yuffie smiled.

"Winfred I would love to show you around more." Sora looked at me and summoned the keyblade looking at it. "But first we need to speak to the King."

"Oh yea that's right." We both said our goodbyes and said we will see them soon.

As we headed towards the kings castle I sat there looking at my hands. I wonder if those guns were a onetime thing? I pictured in my mind them appearing, the weight, the cold feeling of the metal, but nothing happened. I sighed. "We're almost there!" Sora said his back facing me as he 'navigated', I swear it's like a rollercoaster when he drives.

"Tron said you were there with some friends named Donald and Goofy."

"They're my friends. You'll meet them at the castle."

"How did you get out of the game grid?"

"Hmmm… Oh! A heartless attacked but I dodged it and its beam, or cannon, or whatever, hit the wall."

"It's still there. I was able to escape thanks to that."

"You had to use the game grid as well?"

"Yup. I escaped the cell and tried to go from there but got caught and was thrown into the game grid."

"How'd you escape?"

"I…" Huh I'm afraid to tell him. Why? "I used…magic."

"You can use magic!?" Sora looked at me, the ship now in autopilot.

"No. Well, I mean, not know at least. I tried but it doesn't work."

"Heartless were in Tron's world right?"

"Yes." I was afraid were this was going.

"How'd you attack them?"

"I… uh… magic." I can't tell him. I'm afraid to for some reason.

"Donald will be able to help you channel that magic. It was hard for me to use at first to." He smiled. I… I liked that smile. It made me feel…safe.

"Yea." I smiled back. I looked out the window_, Tron's world was re-written. Does that mean Tron is going through the same situation I did? I wish we hadn't left so quickly. There could've been a way to save him! What do they know?! _I sighed and looked at Sora. I saw the castle from the main window and I could feel my nerves standing on edge. I shouldn't be here. I know I shouldn't.


End file.
